Turn on Digi Vox on your 857.

The IC-7000 does not have 75 watts of output on 2 meters. There are radios that are rated for that but not the 7000.
My FT857d shows 103 watts on every HF band, 99 watts on 6m, 51 on 2m, and 23 watts on UHF. 
These reading were tested on my Motorola service monitor and double checked on Telewave 44A. 
My rig is 6 years old and has never had any kind of failure.  I have seen two 7000's locally go back to Icom 5 times respectively.  But their owners still like the radio's. 

So Yaesu is lying about their products???

FT-857d - 100w @ HF-6m / 50w @ 2m / 20w @ 70cm - 22A current at full TX
IC-7000 - 100w @ HF-6m / 50w @ 2m / 35w @ 70cm  - 22A current at full TX

Alan, how is that double the 2 meter and 440 output power?

I just applied with 131 confirmed grids on 6m.  I was all set to go have my cards checked.  I would say that only 10% of my 6m contacts are confirmed, which is sad.

My best qso was to West Virginia on .5w on CW.  I was camping and had ft817 in the tent with a hustler mobile antenna on 40m ground mounted with four speaker wire radials.  The best part is that KS8T was running a Heathkit HW8 at 2 watts.  We had a 45 minute chat til the band dropped.

That is excellent watts per mile for either station. 
1100 miles!

I was wondering why the choices were outdated rigs.

Hope to catch you guys on the air this weekend.
I will be mobile in 12 west texas counties mostly on 40m.

Maybe the requirement of a 25 amp power supply by the radio manufacturer has nothing to do with the radio but the duty cycle of commercially available power supplies.

Let's say the radio at full RF output draws 15 amps DC current.
So a 15 amp power supply would work, but if you have a lot of transmit time, say 50%, then the power supply would have to produce 100% output for 50% of the time... or a 50% duty cycle.

If you used a 25 amp power supply, and the same 50% TX/RX time on the radio, the power supplies duty cycle would be lower because it only has to produce 60% output for 50% of the time... or a 30% duty cycle which is much more equipment friendly.

Does that make sense?

I am a very slow cw op.
I will send at a speed I am comfortable with.
Please slow down for me and my other slow brothers and sisters.

TU de Joel N5XTR 
.  .

I bought the same key for $5 at a hamfest in Midland, TX.
Mine doesn't have the shorting bar but it is my favorite key.

I cannot help but think that if this SSB contest had so few participants, the CW contest will have even less. 
Personally I didn't get bit by the CW bug until last year, but I originally learned it to get my General license. 
Will there be just a hand full of rookie cw ops? 
Non rookies cannot work each-other so what on Earth will happen?

Apparently, there were not many participants.  I helped N5LTR at our portable station and we made only 5 contacts.  I remember trying to work your station but didn't get through.  He called CQ on 6m for an hour when the band opened to Florida and no returns.  We made one QSO on 10m and 3 on 20m.  We called for a long time on 20m and no responses. 
For Mike, N5LTR and myself...it was a true rookie roundup.  He was a rookie on the radio and I was a rookie on a dirt bike.  We have a blast this weekend even if the QSO's didn't add up.

Get the other guys on skype and test the audio feed and internet connections.  If everything seems to work, then run with it.  It will make the net more enjoyable for those having difficulty receiving.